The Job that Changes
by FictionMaker007
Summary: They took her, they took Parker. But her capture brings secrets to light, secrets that should've stayed buried. Now, with the clock ticking, how can a team ripping at the seams pull it together to save her? Is it already too late? Should they surrender? Is this the last job they'll ever do? One thing's for sure, the team will never be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure?" the man in a suit asked.

"Yes," his head of security replied, "our facial recognition software is specifically hardwired to detect such renown thieves like her."

"If it's specifically hardwired how come it took _two days_ to recognize her?" the man demanded.

"I don't know, I think someone gained access to our security and-"

"You _think_?"

"Well-well," the security guard cleared his throat," one thing's for sure, she's not working alone."

"Well then, grab her the next time she gets here, I want to find out who she's working with."

"I'm in position," Eliot grunted into his earbud, "ready when you are Parker."

"Got it," Parker chirped as she entered the museum, "I'll be out in a jiffy."

"Yo, Parker," Hardison grinned from inside Lucille, "when we're done with this job I got something special planned for tonight."

"Oh, really," Parker's flirty voice wormed into Eliot's ear, "well, what is it?"

"Come on, gurl it's a secret," Hardison teased.

Eliot, knowing full well they were going to be like this for the next few minutes, took his comm. out. He was so sick of putting up with their gushy banter. The hitter couldn't wait until Parker switched the legit painting with their forgery so they could take down the mark and he could get a weekend of peace. After a few minutes Eliot figured they had to have been done by now so he stuck his earbud back in.

"Where _are_ you?" Hardison was panicking.

"I-I-what?" Eliot asked, confused.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Parker sounded nervous from her end of the comm. "Please, call Mr. Starke, he'll tell you I work for him. I'm here to secure this painting."

"Hang on Parker," Eliot said, running towards the front of the building, "I'm coming for you."

"I-I don't work for any-" she stopped suddenly, "how'd you know my name? Hardison, how do they know my name."

"P-Parker, listen," Hardison said quickly, "don't let them know about your earbud!"

"Get away from-" Parker was cut off.

"We have your little thief, who _are _you?" a cold voice demanded.

"No!" Eliot shouted, "you will let her go or I will _end_ you."

"I don't think so," the man mused, "no, I think I'll keep her and you will come to Mr. Starke's office where you will give yourselves up or I'll kill her."

"Listen," the hitter's growl was one to make a grown man scared, "if you let her go now, I promise I'll give you twenty-four hours to run as far away as you can, but if you don't I will hunt you down and make you wish you were dead."

Silence, "Well," the man coughed, "_you_ have twenty-four hours to give _yourself_ up and in the meantime, I'll hold onto _Parker_ for safe keeping."

Static came from Parker's comm. undoubtedly meaning it'd been destroyed. Alarms went off in the museum and a wave of tourists began evacuating.

"Eliot," Hardison said, "Eliot, get out of there, you can't take on their entire security. There's like thirty guys in there, meet back here so we can figure out a way to save Parker."

Begrudgingly, Eliot allowed himself to be carried away from the entrance by the crowd and began to sprint towards the van.

"Alright," Hardison trembled when Eliot entered the vehicle, "we-we gotta call Nate, he-he always knows what to do. He-he'll come up with a plan and we'll save Parker-"

"There's no time Hardison!"

"What are we gonna do man? Huh? You don't think I wanna storm in there, kick some ass and save Parker myself? Huh? She's _my_ girlfriend Eliot!"

"Yeah, I know," the hitter retorted coldly, "but we can't-"

"Wait," Hardison interrupted darkly, "what was that?"

"What was what?"

"In your voice? You sound really upset."

"Of _course_ I'm upset Hardison," Eliot yelled, "it's _my_ job to take of her and-"

"Take care of _her_," Hardison cut his friend off and leaned back in his seat, "I should've known."

"Know _what_?"

"What's been goin' on, huh? Between you and Parker?"

"Dammit Hardison!"

"Dammit Eliot! I know something's up, you bein' all dark about huntin' that guy down if he hurt her!"

"That's 'cause she's my family Hardison! You idiot, _you're_ my family! When I started this job it was _my_ job to take care of the team and I promised Sophie that I'd protect you guys!"

"Yeah, but you weren't like this when _Nate_ was kidnapped, you was all cool and collected. Even when _I_ was in a damn coffin you seemed pretty calm when you found me. Now _Parker's_ gone and you freak out!"

"Damnit Hardison, what do you want to hear, huh? What do you want me to say?"

"The truth Eliot!"

Eliot paused.

"Can't we do this _after_ we save Parker?"

"I knew it you son of a-" Hardison dove at the man, fists flying.

Eliot easily threw him on the floor of the van. Hardison sat up, looking like he was about to cry.

"Tell me Eliot, tell me the truth."

Eliot sighed, "Alright man," he said softly, here's what happened."


	2. Chapter 2

"Here's what happened," Eliot sighed. "It was nothing serious, okay? We just…we just had a thing, okay? It was brief but-"

"A _thing_? You guys had a _thing_?!"

"Damnit Hardison, do you want the truth or not?"

Hardison shut his mouth. Eliot inhaled sharply.

"Look man, it was nothing serious okay? We just," he sat down next to Hardison. "She'd kinda liked me, alright? That's why she wasn't into you at first, I didn't really want to think I liked you guys as a family at first. I didn't want to be like…attached to the team, okay? Then you annoying people just went behind my back and…and…"

"And what?"

"And made me care! I didn't care about anyone for so long and then you guys just…" the hitter gave a frustrated sigh. "As far as I know, she was conflicted, I was too. She thought she was in love after the thing with me singing and it wasn't until that stupid Santa Clause job with stupid Chaos did I think I loved her too 'cause I forgot what love was."

This was the first time in a long time did Eliot really open up but he had to let it out.

"When Chaos made that perverted comment about Parker I realized I minded, a _lot_ and we talked about it and we thought it was love, but she had feelings for you too."

Hardison recalled how jealous Parker was when he had hung out with a female client. He almost smiled when he thought of the beer bottle she destroyed and how akward Parker admitted that she might've had weird feelings.

"We tried, discreetly, you know we talked and I made her dinner once but-"

"You made her dinner?"

"Please, man, just-just let me finish," Eliot begged. "Like I said, we tried but it didn't work and we realized that we were more like brother and sister."

The hitter felt stupid for being so close to tears and he knew that if he kept talking like this he just might actually cry.

"Is that enough for now at least?"

"Yeah, man, for now."

Eliot straightened himself, "I'll call Nate and Sophie."

"I'll try and figure out where they're keeping her and monitor their security."

"If you were smart, you'd let me go," Parker spat at her captor.

"And if you were smart you'd tell me who your accomplices are," the man rebutted.

"Ha! You must think I'm stupid or something, but you'll be screwed when my team gets here."

"I could turn you over to the authorities you know."

"We both know you can't without exposing your boss."

"Well, if I can't have you arrested then what do you expect I do?"

"Let me go?"

"Nope, nice try though."

Parker glared. These people must've known she'd be able to pick handcuffs easily so they had her duct-taped to a chair in some dark room in the casino basement. She was still staring intently at her detainer when a timid little man in a suit barged in, he whispered something to the other man that he couldn't make out.

"Excellent," Parker's captor grinned, the short man left. "I've just been given permission to…loosen your tongue a little."

Parker swallowed, she barely had time to brace herself for a heavy strike across her face. Her blurred vision and aching nostrils signified that her nose was broken. A warm liquid that must've been blood oozed down her chin in thick rivers.

"I don't want to get messy," the man said, removing his jacket and rolling up his sleeves, "but you better talk quick because Mr. Starke doesn't take too kindly to thieves. Not even very attractive ones."

"You'll pay for that," Parker growled, but inside she said a quick prayer that Eliot and Hardison would hurry up and get her out of here.

"Oh, Nate, I didn't realize how romantic you were," Sophie cooed. "All of this and a secret dinner, I mean I didn't think you had it in you."

"Hey, it's not my fault you underestimate me," Nate replied.

The two of them were walking through Holland Park and Sophie had an "acquired" second anniversary ring. Sophie convinced Nate to make it a tradition to steal million-dollar rings from corrupt, powerful Europeans for every year they'd been married.

"You know," she said thoughtfully, "I've been thinking that we should visit the others for Christmas again, you know? Maybe make it a thing that we do."

"Are you saying this because you want to see them or because you want to con some big American hot-shot again?" he asked.

"Oh, Nate, not like that, I want to see them. We both agreed it was best if we left team for good and-"

"It's alright Sophie, I was just asking."

The two of them leaned in for a kiss when Sophie's phone rang.

"Nate," Sophie turned her head, "hang on, that's the others, calling." She fished her cellphone out of her purse, "Oh, Eliot, we were just talking about…yes, yes, we'll be there first thing tomorrow."

She hung up.

"What's wrong?" Nate asked.

"It's Parker, someone's got Parker."

It was five o'clock in the morning when Nate and Sophie were outside of Hardison's restaurant that served as Leverage HQ in Portland, Oregon. Moments after they'd knocked an exhausted looking Hardison opened the door.

"Finally," he gasped as he let them in, "you have to help."

The three of them walked to the back of the restaurant where Eliot was waiting.

"Listen, guys," Nate said, "I mean I don't want to be rude, but-"

"Why do we need you," Eliot finished.

"I'll tell you why," Hardison picked up the remote for the TVs on the wall. "The man that's got her, Johnathon Starke, all of the people who come across him either end up dead or missing. Also, he's into some _really_ shady stuff," he clicked a button and images of documents and very unfriendly-looking people flew onto the screens. "Drug dealers, arms dealers, people dealers, man he launders their money through his casinos with and he's able to charge a small fee because there's so many shady people doing business with him."

"Alright so where's Parker?" Nate asked.

Hardison pressed another button, pulling up the casino security feeds, "I've been watching the outside of the casino where she was taken and as far as I can tell she's still in the building."

"Alright, I'll get to work on a plan and I'll let you know as soon as I come up with something. In the meantime, Hardison, you need to rest." Nate commanded.

"What? Parker's been captured and you want me to _rest_?" Hardison demanded.

"You're exhausted, I need a fresh wide-awake hacker," Nate explained. "Listen, the best thing you can do for Parker right now is trust me. Now, go get some rest."

"How can you expect him to sleep?" Sophie asked when Hardison left.

"I don't, I'm just trying to stall him before he attempts a solo suicide mission."

"Well, I see you're not very responsive to the simple things," Parker's detainer said.

With his eyes, he examined Parker's swollen face, dislocated shoulder, broken nose, slashed legs, and bloody clothes.

"Yes, we're going to have to get complicated, so, would you prefer I continued with physical pain or would you like to engage me in physiological warfare?"

Parker moaned, then the little man returned.

"Someone covered her tracks tremendously, but we eventually found her last known associates," he handed the captor a file.

The head of security opened the file to find documents on Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, Sophie Devereaux, and Nathen Ford. He dismissed the small man and turned back to Parker.

"Well, looks like I have what I want, now let's see how important you are to the rest of your team."

The man took his cellphone from his pocket and began to dial Nate's phone number.


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile, Hardison went into the spare bedroom Parker claimed that was next to his. She'd been crashing there while she looked for a place of her own, but both of them knew she wasn't really looking. The bedroom was mostly plain, green blankets sheets and pillows rested neatly on the small bed with a single stuffed rabbit Parker had since she was a little girl. On her dresser were three pictures, one of her and Archie, her and Hardison, and one of the whole team during Christmas. He smiled when he remembered the look on Parker's face when she discovered the motorcycle with a bow parked outside. Hardison looked around the walls to see blueprints of all of the buildings with high-tech security systems she stole from, to Parker, they were like trophies. He swung his legs up on the bed and lay down next to her rabbit, trying to dream about rescuing her.

In an attempt to make himself more comfortable, he rolled onto his stomach and stuck his hands under the pillow. To his surprise, his hands came in contact with a hard rectangle. Hardison pulled out the object and discovered it to be a notebook or journal of some kind. Curiosity and the urge to respect Parker's privacy battled inside him. Soon, they compromised on just reading a few entries. Hardison flipped to the first page and silently read:

_Sophie thinks that I need to express my feelings more so she wants me to write how I feel. I feel tired and hungry and awkward. Yep, those are my feelings notebook or whatever you are, I'm going to eat a snack._

Most of Parker's first pages were like that, but it seemed that gradually she became accustomed to privately writing her feelings. Hardison smiled as he recollected the different jobs and memories she wrote about. Then he turned to a page about right in the middle of the journal.

_I feel all weird and tingly. I can't talk to Sophie about it because I'm afraid she'll think it's stupid but I have this…urge to be with the guys. You know, Eliot and Hardison and when I'm with Eliot I just. UGH! This is so hard to explain, I'm not sure, but I think I kinda like _like_ Eliot Spencer._

"I like Eliot Spencer." Those words echoed in Hardison's head, swirling around, mocking him.

"No," Hardison said aloud, slamming the book shut. "I trust Eliot and he said nothing happened, yeah. This-this only proves he telling the truth." He tried to convince himself.

He left the room rubbing his forehead as if trying to remove the memory of reading the entry. As he did, he passed by the conference room where Nate and Sophie where talking.

"No, Nate," Sophie was saying, "you don't understand." She hushed her voice and Hardison backed out of view and listened carefully. "I'm afraid if they _are_ hitting her, it'll cause a miscarriage."

Miscarriage. At first, Hardison was worried it was his. The two of them had only done it once a week or so ago because Parker didn't really like to talk or do things like that. The urge to save Parker only grew stronger until a little voice in his head whispered: _"It was only a week ago so how could Parker know so quickly? The baby is Eliot's."_

Hardison's determination was immediately replaced with pure fury. He ran to the front of the restaurant to see Eliot pouring over blueprints of the casino.

Eliot looked up, "Hey, man what's-"

WHAM! With all of the strength he could muster-and ironically using all the techniques Eliot showed him- Hardison clocked Eliot in the face.


	4. Chapter 4

In one, swift motion, Hardison's face was slammed against the blueprints with Eliot hovering over him, twisting one of Hardison's arms behind his back.

"What the hell Hardison?" Eliot demanded.

"You _lied_ to me!" Hardison screamed back. "You said nothing serious happened between you and Parker!"

"That's 'cause _nothing_ serious _did_ happen!"

Nate and Sophie burst into the room.

"What's going on?" Nate asked at the sight of Eliot pinning Hardison.

"Hardison just came over and punched me in the face," Eliot explained angerly.

"That's cause the both of ya's been tellin' lies!" Hardison nodded towards Sophie.

"Hardison what are you-" Sophie began.

"Oh, don't even! I heard you talking to Nate about Parker and you didn't think to tell _me_? Or did you tell Nate _after_ you told Eliot?"

"Tell me what?" Eliot growled. "Sophie, what the hell is he talking about?"

Sophie began to pace, biting her lip.

"Okay, okay," she took a deep breath, "Parker called me last Tuesday and she was worried that she was preg-"

Nate's phone rang. He answered it and his face went dark.

"I want proof of life now," Nate demanded.

Eliot released Hardison and stood anxiously next to Sophie. Hardison made a point to stand away from both of them, but craned his neck to see the video Nate was receiving. Nate, however, held it at an angle so only he could see it. Suddenly, Nate shut his eyes briefly and then he put the phone back to his ear.

"So how's this going to go?" Nate asked.

Silence while the man on the other end of the phone spoke.

"Alright," Nate sighed and put the phone on speaker.

"Hello there," a cruel voice on the other end of the line said. "I've asked Mr. Ford to put the phone on speaker because I have a question: how much is Parker's life worth to you?"

They all looked at each other.

"You know, some people call me 'The Cat' because I like to play with my food," the man chuckled evilly. "I took a look at Parker's movements for the past couple weeks and she made an interesting visit to a Dr. Jordan last Tuesday, so tell me, which one of you is sleeping with her?"

There was an uncomfortable silence. Eliot fidgeted, Nate and Sophie looked back and forth at the two men, and Hardison just glared at Eliot.

Nate took a deep breath, "why does it matter?"

"Well, I could just kill her."

"You do that and I'll-" Eliot began

"Yes, yes, I know, make me regret being born. Now answer the question."

"Fine," Nate sighed regrettably, "she, well, Parker and uh," Nate looked at Hardison and Eliot as if trying to read their minds. "Eliot and Parker have been-"

"Ah," the man's malicious smile was practically pouring out of the phone. "The hitter tries to rescue the damsel in distress, I should've known. The whole 'you'll regret this' speech and being all protective. How delicious."

Hardison looked like he'd been hit by a truck.

"Well," the man continued, "I'd love to chat but I have a certain _guest_ who needs attending. Here's how this will play out, Eliot and two others are going to give themselves up. Eliot will come through the front entrance, the two others will come around to the back, I don't care who. You guys can choose who gives themselves and Parker gets to live happily ever after with someone other than Eliot. You have one hour."

He hung up.

"I knew it," Hardison looked like he could spit fire.

"Listen, Hardison, I-I don't, Nate," Eliot looked extremely uncomfortable, "why'd you tell him Parker and I…you know."

"You guys have to trust me," Nate explained calmly.

"Trust you?" Eliot demanded, "you're telling that phycopath bullshit about Parker and me and-"

"Bullshit?" Hardison asked. "Wait, we haven't established that you and Parker _are_ bullshit."

"Hardison, I told you I-we-we never-" Eliot began.

"Listen," Nate interrupted, "for Parker's sake we've all got to pull together and-"

"Pull together?" Hardison demanded, "Sophie's keeping secrets from me, Eliot's been lying to me, and you-Mr. Mind-Reader-Know-It-All- seem to know _exactly_ what's going in with Parker and Eliot."

"Hardison," Eliot's voice was quieter now, "man, you gotta believe me. I would _never_…please," he seemed to be begging, "I swear, I told you the truth the first time."

Hardison scoffed and looked away. The hitter gave another one of his frustrated groans.

"I'll do this one job," Hardison said in a grave voice, "for Parker, then I'm leaving."

Sophie gasped and put her hand to her mouth, Eliot rubbed his chin, everyone looked at Hardison. No one said anything.

"Alright," Nate's voice broke the heavy silence, "here's the plan."


	5. The Final Chapter

"Nate, I'm in position," the hitter growled into his earbud.

"Us too," the grafter replied.

"Hardison, are you ready?" the mastermind asked.

"Yeah," the hacker responded coldly from inside the van parked a good four blocks away, "ready when you are."

All they were missing was a thief.

"Hardison, we got company" Sophie said.

Four armed men seized Nate and Sophie. They led the two into the casino towards a set of stairs.

"Me too," Eliot added moments later.

Sure enough the head of security along with six other armed guards came to greet him.

"I don't underestimate you, Eliot," the man who called Nate explained as Eliot's raised eyebrow. "This way, Mr. Spencer."

The eight men walked into the casino. Screeches of laughter, indistinct conversations, groans of frustration, pings and clicks of games, rattling chips and coins, and victorious yells flooded the first floor. The men surrounded Eliot, forcing him toward another wing. Minutes later they were all walking down a set of stairs that led right underneath the building. A few more twists and turns led them to a steel door.

"Go on, open it," the lead security grinned cruelly.

Eliot turned the handle and gave the door a shove. Inside he found Parker strapped to a chair in the same condition as the video except with duck tape over her mouth.

"Parker," Eliot rushed to her.

"Hey, you're lucky I respect you as much as I do, okay? I read your files and let me say, if she'd been _doing_ it with Hardison or Nate, you would've found her in a…well let's just say a _different_ state."

"Bastard," the hitter spat and removed the tape on Parker's mouth, wrists, and ankles. "Parker, Parker, it's me, Eliot. Come on, I'm gonna get you outta here."

Parker groaned as she awoke, "No, you left me. He got to you and you're just saying that."

"P-Parker," he tried to keep his emotions in check, "how could you think we would leave you?"

"Because he hurt me Eliot," Parker was starting to cry now, "and you let him."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Nate, Eliot's got Parker, just stall for a few more moments," Hardison's eyes were wet.

Parker was close enough to Eliot's earbud to hear her explanation of him abandoning her.

"Guys, remember the plan and trust Eliot to get her out of there," Nate whispered.

Sophie went into her "acting mode" and began to stall, "I-I, Nate, I don't think I can do this,"

"We all agreed to do this for Parker," Nate said, coming to a halt.

"Well, what if-what if she's dead, I don't want to die Nate," she whimpered, "not for Parker or for anyone else."

"Oh, don't worry" one of the guards began, "we're not gonna kill you…not right away anyway."

"See-see," Sophie stuttered, "they're gonna kill us!"

"Stick to the plan Sophie."

"Oh, crap," another man exclaimed, "I totally forgot."

He stepped forward, seized Sophie roughly and yanked the earpiece out of her ear. A third man did the same to Nate. Then the pieces were thrown on the ground and stomped on, leaving Eliot and Hardison nothing but static.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That's right, Eliot," the head of security and Parker's original captor whispered harshly, "you didn't save her. You left her here with me, and boy, she put up a fight that one. She was _so_ convinced that you would come in here like a superhero and whisk her to-"

WHAM! The hitter lost it. All he could see was red, it was his job to protect the team, then when Sophie and Nate left, she made Eliot promise to watch Hardison and Parker. "With my life," those were his words, his promise and he failed. How many hours was Parker forced to sit in that chair while that son of bitch beat her like that? How many times did she look at that door and let the hope that he or Hardison would come busting through it guns ablaze eat her alive? How many times did that sadistic physco whisper all the pain he would cause her or that no one would save her?

Eliot was a tornado of fists and kicks, an unstoppable force of destruction, a whirlwind of pure fury. He relieved every single man in that room of their consciousness except one: the bastard that hurt Parker.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nate had been in this situation many times before and he knew that with the team's trust at a bare minimum-probably even below that- that they would need him to guide them more than ever. The men forced them along a red-carpeted hallway then he looked up to see a camera. One of the first steps to every job they'd ever run was have Hardison tap the video feeds and without their coms, he must've been tracking Nate and Sophie's movements on the security camera.

Nate looked straight at the camera and nodded. Fortunately, Hardison was watching.

"_When Eliot gets Parker and I give you the signal, take out the lights and lead us out," Nate told Hardison._

_ "Got it, wait, what's this signal supposed to look like?" Hardison asked._

_ "It'll either be very subtle or very obvious."_

_ "Subtle or obvious, got it."_

"That's pretty subtle, Nate," Hardison muttered to himself.

The lights in the hallway Nate, Sophie, and their "babysitters" were shut off. The mastermind and grifter turned and ran back the way they came while Hardison provided them the cover of darkness.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The man who stood below Eliot whimpered.

"You read my file?" Eliot asked.

The man nodded.

"Then you know _exactly_ what I do to people when I have a good reason."

Another nod.

"You beating Parker like that, those threats you made, _that_ is the definition of good reason."

Instead of a vigorous head shake the man looked like he was going to wet his pants. When the hitter took a step toward him, it smelled like he did. Eliot grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked the sniveling man to his feet. He then seized him roughly and snatched his wallet that bulged in his front pocket. The hitter looked at Parker and remembered he was running out of time, the soft urge from Hardison in his ear seemed to snap him out of his trance.

"I know your name and where to find you and even your name is enough for Hardison to track you down which he'll gladly do," the hitter said after examining the wallet's contents. "You have twenty four hours to run before I fulfill my promise to hurt you a hundred times worse than you hurt her."

Then Eliot shoved the man into the wall and he collapsed to the floor in a bruised heap alongside the rest of his men. Gently, Eliot cradled Parker in his arms.

"Hardison, I'm ready," he spoke into his com.

"Alright, but you better move fast," Hardison's icy voice slithered into his ear.

Carrying the thief, the hitter avoided the main stairwells and hallways. With the help of darkness, Eliot was able to make it to the first floor without any trouble.

"Ready," Eliot said as he carefully shifted Parker.

"And go," Hardison commanded.

The wail of the fire alarm and screech of panicked civilians would've made the hitter tempted to put Parker down and cover his ears a couple years ago, but he'd changed. His cold heart had slowly melted away, exposing his soft center. Looking down at Parker he remembered all those stupid things she did and said that made him laugh on the inside. All those years of being coldblooded made him forget how good it felt to have a family, to love. Now, looking down at Parker, Eliot remembered one of the reasons he cut ties with emotions and most people, because those that you love the most, hurt you the most.

Sure he'd been beaten, stabbed, shot, tortured, kidnapped, drugged, and tons of other thing he'd experienced that made him experience nearly unbearable pain but looking down at bruised, broken Parker felt ten times worse.

"Eliot, move!" Hardison directed.

The hitter looked up and ran alongside the people scrambling towards the exit, being very sure that none of them bumped into and disturbed Parker. Finally, he made it outside and shoved his way through the crowd. Eliot met up with the others in "Lucille" at the rendezvous point and he delicately placed her on the floor of the van.

He was examining her injuries when Parker came to.

"Hardison?" she choked.

"It's me baby, it's me," Hardison replied, unable to find the willpower to be mad at her.

"Have-have to…tell you," she began to writhe in pain.

"Shh, hold still," Hardison soothed as Nate began to drive.

"Try not to talk," Eliot commanded.

"No, I have to tell you-ugh-about…Tuesday," she insisted.

"What?" Hardison asked, suddenly afraid to know. The last thing he wanted to hear at that moment was that she was pregnant with Eliot's child.

"I-I might have a baby."

Hardison looked away.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you'd be happy. I'm so stupid."

Parker started to cry silently.

"Parker, how could I be happy that you didn't tell me about you and Eliot?" Hardison demanded.

"Me…Eliot? What, what are you…I don't know what-"

"You slept with him didn't you?"

The hitter was feeling twice as insecure as Nate and Sophie who, being so close, had no choice but to listen on the conversation.

"Hardison, let her rest," Eliot mumbled.

"No," Hardison couldn't take it anymore, "I need to know, Parker. Did you and Eliot…you know…"

"NO!" Parker groaned as she gingerly poked her shoulder.

"Don't touch it, it's dislocated," the hitter directed.

"You mean, you never…" Hardison was hopeful now.

"Of course not, the first time I did that was with you," she replied.

Everyone in the vehicle except Hardison and Parker were feeling beyond akward.

"I need to tell you something too," Hardison admitted.

"What?"

"_This_ is what I wanted to show you last night."

Hardison pulled out a small, red, velvety case. He opened it to reveal a sparkling ring. Parker started to cry again.

"Yes, Hardison," she sobbed. "Yes."

Eliot stepped aside as Hardison bent down to kiss her, he knew that a good year ago he would've been jealous, but now he knew that he and Parker just weren't _meant_ to be. Hardison suddenly broke away from Parker with misty eyes and turned to Eliot.

"I'm so sorry, man," Hardison sniffed. "I should've listened, I should've believed-"

"Hey, man," Eliot comforted, "it's okay."

"No, its not I was such a terrible friend and I-"

"Hardison, really, I get why you were so mad and I should've told you about how Parker and I, well, we used to date-I guess that's what you'd call it."

"I should've said something too," Parker chimed in.

"Wait," Nate interrupted, "you guys used to date?"

"Kinda," the hitter scratched his head awkwardly.

"Hold up, h-hold up," Hardison said, "I thought you knew about them. Isn't that why you told the head of security guy that Eliot was…you know."

"I said that because I knew the best person to get Parker out of there was Eliot and if I said they were…_dating_, he would let Eliot in," Nate explained.

"Okay, so it's just one of your physiological mind games to get him to let Eliot into the building?" Hardison asked.

"Yep."

"Well, it worked anyway," Sophie said cheerfully, "and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Parker earlier, Hardison. It's just, Parker wanted me to keep it a secret and I just-"

"We're good, Sophie, we're good," Hardison grinned. "Hey, Eliot," Hardison said after the hitter concluded Parker's baby should be okay.

"What?"

"Let's hug it out."

The car exploded with laughter that finally burst the team's tension.


End file.
